This is part of a class at Satrinonthaburi School near Bangkok that did the exercises and homework you will see below. They then participated in the morning session of the Bangkok Post's Educational Services seminar for teachers at their school.

Suppose you are assigned to read a one-page text which is written in English. You start reading and very soon you come to a word that you do not know. What do you do?

If you are like many students, you will immediately open your English-Thai dictionary. When you find the word, you will write the Thai meaning above the word in the text. Then, you will continue reading until you find the next unfamiliar word. Another trip to the dictionary follows and the process is repeated again and again until you finish reading the text. If the text is a difficult one, much of the page will be covered with Thai meanings.

I’m sure you will agree that this is not the most enjoyable way to learn English. For one thing, it takes too much time and you often end up with a rather poor understanding of the story. And since you depend on Thai translations, you probably don’t remember much English either.

This week, let’s try something different. Instead of rushing to the dictionary each time we find an unfamiliar word, we are going to take a moment to see if we can guess its meaning. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how often this will be successful – especially if you are reading the newspaper.

We are going to focus on news stories because they are about the best kind of text in the whole world for practising guessing the meanings of words.

The reason is that news stories have so much repetition. They put the main ideas at the top in the headline and in the first paragraph. Then they gradually add details throughout the rest of the story. Thus, if you don’t understand something at the top of the story, it shouldn’t take long for you to be able to figure it out as you continue reading.

Here are a few examples. First, what does the word flop mean in the following?

Obviously, flop must mean "complete failure". Now try to figure out what amputated means in the story below.

That was easy. If you amputate a finger, you remove it, i.e., you cut it off. Now look back at the story to find out what kind of a doctor does the cutting.

The next story will take a little more work. Read it and try to guess the meaning of the word lethal.

If you look closely, you should see that the candy was called lethal because it contained dangerous (hazardous) substances that can cause death. Something which can cause death is known as lethal.

Now look back at the story and find two closely related words, contaminated and contaminants. What do they mean?

In the next section you can practice your guessing skills. Interestingly, all the examples were chosen by students at Satrinonthaburi School where I conducted a demonstration lesson last week.

All the examples below come from students at Satrinonthaburi. They were taken from a homework assignment that the students prepared for me. It is nice to see that Thai students do their homework and that they do it very well too. Students at Satrinonthaburi do their homework. Here's proof! The first example comes from M5 student, Patchariya Chatnopakun. Read the paragraph below and try to figure out what a monopoly is. "Krop Krua Transport has operated ferries on the Saen Saep canal for more than 10 years without any competition. The city also has no income from its operation," he said. This monopoly should end." 1. A monopoly is a business where there is ____ _________. The next example was submitted by M6 student Amara Vitchudecha. It is a passage describing the condition of a weir (a small dam) in Samut Songkhram. The concrete embankment is in a dismal state: cracks and holes abound; the main steel gate has long gone missing, thus leaving the weir open all year round. 2. A dismal state refers to a very good / bad condition Apinya Aiempet, a M6 student is responsible for the next example. Taleban gains ground in fresh skirmishes Kabul, AFP Fierce fighting erupted yesterday between the ruling Taleban militia and opposition forces in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan provinces, opposition officials said. 3. If two sides are involved in skirmishes, it means that they are ________ with each other. Below is a story which gives you many chances to understand the word fledgling. It was submitted by Mauthurin Panomvan Na Ayudhya who is currently in M6. Sudarat admits she is a political fledgling Disappointed runner-up Sudarat Keyuraphan yesterday admitted she was still "too young" politically to win the Bangkok governor’ seat, and congratulated rival Samak Sundaravej for the "last chance" city voters have given him to stay in politics. "I must accept that Mr Samak has been in politics for many decades. I am a newcomer. My political life is still less than a decade," Mrs Sudarat told a news conference with a tired smile at her Thai Rak Thai Party headquarters on Vibahavadi road yesterday evening. 4. All of the words and phrases below help describe the idea of fledgling except disappointed young newcomer less than a decade Pojchanan Srinark, an M6 student, found the following story about two of the world’s most popular celebrities. Stars to say ‘I do’ Glamour couple finally confirms rumours After weeks of denying widespread rumours that they were about to wed, movie superstar Brad Pit and Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston reversed course on Thursday and said they were going to get married this weekend. Pitt, 36, and Aniston, 31, will tie the knot this weekend, Pitt’s spokeswoman Cindy Guagenti said, appealing to the press to respect the couple’s privacy. Pitt was previously engaged to Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow. Use words from the story to fill in the blanks in the two sentences below. 6. If a man and a woman say "I do" it means that they become __________. 7. It also means that they have agreed to: get _______, or to _____, or to _____ the _____. Pojchanan found another fun guessing example in the short story below. Jail was on the cards, says seer Fortune teller Khunthong Asunee na Ayutthaya surrendered to the Criminal Court yesterday and said his tarot cards had told him he would go to jail. 8. What is a synonym (word with the same meaning) for fortune teller in the story above. Below is an example of a story which is ideal for guessing the meaning of the word tyrant. It was submitted by M6 student Nida Tontrakool. Premier files suit against paper for calling him a tyrant Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai yesterday filed a second defamation lawsuit against a local newspaper which called him a tyrant over the suppression of an anti-dam protest. Chuan’s lawyers filed charges against the Thai Post, accusing the newspaper of insulting him by printing his picture alongside former 1970s-era dictator Thanom Kittikachorn under the headline "new tyrant". "I’m not cruel or inhuman," he said. But Thai Post managing director Kannika Viriyakul stood by the report. "I wanted to reassure the public that we have reported it in a straightforward manner and we had no intention of insulting the prime minister," she said. She said the definition of a tyrant was a ruler who harmed people or caused them great distress. 9. Use the story to write a definition of the word tyrant. Include several different words or phrases in your definition. 10. Both Wannwipa (M5) and Nicha (M4) submitted the following story because it contains two different phrases which have the same meaning as unrealistic. What are they? Phuket cyber plans seen as unrealistic A proposal to spend tens of billions of baht on turning Phuket island into a cyber city is "too visionary" in the current economic climate, according to a senior policy and planning analysts. "The idea is rather like a dream," said Amnard Poltecha of the National Economic and Social Development Board. The plan is aimed at making Phuket an international cyberport along the lines of similar ventures in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

FOLLOW UP Learning vocabulary directly You can’t learn to guess the meaning of new words in a single lesson. In fact, it takes a lot of practice for you to master this important skill. And you won’t always be successful. There will be many situations when you can’t guess the meaning of a new word. So don’t throw away your dictionaries. One of the problems with learning new vocabulary is that the words are easy to forget. Here is an fun activity that will prevent that from happening. You will also learn a lot of English vocabulary in the process. The Word Trade Centre Each week, look through the Bangkok Post on line to find five words that you don’t know but that you would like to know. Make a vocabulary card for each of the five words using an English-English dictionary to help you. Write the word at the top of the card followed by its pronunciation. Write the word’s part of speech too (adjective, noun, etc.). Next write the meaning or meanings of the word. Be sure to include the meaning of the word as it was used in the Bangkok Post story where you found it. Next write at least two sentences or phrases using the word. The first should come from the Bangkok Post story and the second can come from a dictionary. You can find even more examples if you use several dictionaries. Make sure your card is neat and easy to read. You might even want to include an illustration. This shouldn’t just be for decoration, however. Make sure it helps you understand or remember the meaning of the word. These example vocabulary cards were made by students at Satrinonthaburi School. Vimol Hanpanishkitharn, M6, made the card on the left; Jirapapha Danwannakit, M6, made the card for reluctant below. Now for the fun part. When you have finished your five vocabulary cards, make at least one copy of each. Keep the original and then exchange the five copies with your friends. That way you will double the number of words that you learn. Instead of just learning five new words a week, you will be able to learn 10 – or even more if you decide to make more copies. TEACHER'S NOTE I’ve been writing vocabulary from context lessons for many years now, but my visit to Satrinonthaburi School last week gave me an opportunity to try one out with a real class. For the most part the lesson succeeded, but it quickly became clear that this skill requires a lot of practice to fully master. Thus, you should consider this lesson to be just a first step in the process. Incidentally, you can find many more context exercises in the post tips section of our website. I strongly encourage you to make my "word trade centre" a regular part of your classroom routine. Students generally end their school careers with weak English vocabularies and this activity can go a long way towards rectifying that problem. There were many teachers also in attendance for the lesson and the day-long seminar. Next week: How funny or unusual news stories can be the basis of a classroom play. Go back to the top